


Dragon Bond

by TimeWolfPaladin



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura is a bitch, Altean Lance (Voltron), Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Different Worlds, Dragon Bonds, Dragons, Eventual Smut, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gay Keith (Voltron), Hunk (Voltron) is so Pure, I’m horrible at tagging, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Keith (Voltron) is a Mess, Kinda, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Love at First Sight, M/M, Minor Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Minor Allura/Lotor (Voltron), Minor Hunk/Shay (Voltron), Nonbinary Pidge | Katie Holt, Slowburn who?, Taller Keith, Zaki is an angry boi, everyone ships it, keith and lance are oblivious dorks, the lions are dragons but with different names
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2019-02-11
Packaged: 2019-09-25 19:16:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17127188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TimeWolfPaladin/pseuds/TimeWolfPaladin
Summary: When Keith is thrown out of his home, he doesn’t know where to go. One thing leads to another and he finds himself in a strange world with...dragons?! Will he be able to help his new found friends in their fight against the galra or will he get burned alive by a dragon with major anger issues?





	1. Abandoned

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my first work in here and I’m very excited to start it. I’ve had this idea in mind for awhile and finally found the motivation to start it. I hope you enjoy! The first few chapters will probably be a bit short until I get it’s the jist of things :3

Abandoned, banished, never to return. There were many ways he could put it but it wouldn’t make a difference. Keith stared down at the sidewalk, hands stuffed into the pockets of his red jacket, as he walked along. 

When he closed his eyes he could still see his foster mother and foster fathers looks of complete rage. He had felt like something was different while he was at school, everything in him screaming for him not to return home that afternoon. He had stupidly ignored it and when he opened the door he was met with a phone in his face, the messages he’d been sending back and forth between a boy in his class blatantly showing on the small screen. Before he could say anything he was being shoved outside, falling backwards and hissing with pain as he hit his head on the concrete. 

Which leads up to where he is now, wandering the street a few hours later. Keith sniffed, his vision obscured with angry, unshed tears. He wouldn’t let himself cry, wouldn’t let anyone see him be weak and helpless. He was almost eighteen years old, he can take care of  
himself. Besides, he’s been alone before, before they threw him into foster care anyway. Keith clutched his stomach as it rumbled loudly, telling him he needed to eat. But he had no money, he would just have to wait. He grimaced as he thought about looking for some leftovers in the trash, but he was too prideful for that. 

Keith sighed as he watched the sky beginning to darken into night, choosing to lay down on a bench and worry about where he would go in the morning. It took awhile of him just laying there staring at the dark sky before finally falling asleep. But it still didn’t last long, woken up by the sound of the early risers starting their days as the sun began to rise. He groaned as he sat up on the bench, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he looked around. People were starting to get up for work, some getting into their cars to try and beat the morning traffic and some choosing to take the sidewalk to avoid it if their work was close enough.

His stomach growled again, expressing his ever growing hunger. Keith groaned and stood, starting to walk down the sidewalk again. He didn’t even bother to acknowledge a man that bumped into him, muttering a “sorry” before he was hurrying off again. Keith froze as he heard the sirens of a police car, coming closer and closer. 

He began to panic, thinking that his foster parents probably asked the police to look for him before they got into trouble. He didn’t want to go back there, he couldn’t. So he ran. He could hear the police drawing closer, yelling at him. 

“Hey, Kid! Stop!” One yelled into a megaphone. 

Keith swerved to left, going into the forest. He quickly hopped over the fence, ignoring the sign that clearly read ‘DO NOT ENTER’. He never knew or bothered to ask why the forest was off limits to the town, something about a body or something like that. He kept running until he couldn’t hear their voices anymore, stopping to lean on one of the massive trees, panting heavily as he tried to catch his breath. He took a moment to look around, frowning as he realized he had no idea where he was.

Keith leaned his head back against the tree with a sigh, trying to figure out what to do next. He froze when he heard rustling in a nearby bush, slowly looking over. He grabbed a stick off the ground, holding it in front of himself defensively in case it was something unfriendly. He clutched the stick tightly as the thing emerged. It was roughly the size of a house cat, but looked nothing like one. It had dark black skin, scales actually, and a long snout with glowing green eyes, a long tail lashing behind it and small ears pinned to the side of its head. 

“Huh...what the hell are you?” Keith murmured, lowering the stick to his side as he crouched down to get a closer look at the creature. 

He tentatively held his hand out, watching as the creature sniffed at his hand cautiously. Keith smiled slightly before everything turned to shit. The creature growled and some green liquid began to drip from its mouth before it bit deep into the boys hand, causing him to wrench it back and try to get away. He hissed in pain, the creature snarling before launching itself at him. Keith yelped and moved out of the way just in time, the creature clinging to the tree he had been against before turning to go in for another attack.

As it attacked again, Keith raised the stick and whacked it out of the air, watching it tumble to the ground. His eyes widened as the creature instantly got up, but now it began to grow larger. Keith gulped and began to back away, the creature now as big as a Great Dane. 

It snarled and ran towards him, jaw agape to show off it’s teeth, coated in the green liquid. Keith turned tail and ran, hoping he could keep ahead of it. He glanced around, desperately looking for a place to hide. His dark eyes landed on a small hole in a pile of boulders, quickly coming to a decision and running towards it. 

Before he could climb inside the creature pounced, catching the back of his leg in its sharp teeth, causing him to cry out in pain. He turned and used his other foot to kick it in the snout, the creature letting go and giving him enough time to crawl inside. He clutched his leg with his good hand as he attempted to catch his breath, the creature pacing outside for a moment before disappearing.

Keith let out a sigh of relief, leaning against the wall as he tried to get himself to calm down. His mind and heart were racing as he tried to process what just happened. Something caught his attention from the corner of his eye, slowly turning to look and hoping it wasn’t another of those creatures. It was a light, coming from the other side of the tunnel, which he was just now realizing was a tunnel. 

He felt like he was being drawn towards it, like a moth to a flame, and before he realized it he was crawling towards it. After a moment he emerged into the forest, but it seemed different. It was much brighter, more colorful than the dull and dead plants he had seen before. Even he looked different, his pale skin looking healthier and his long raven black hair shinier.

He looked back towards the hole, expecting to see the pile of boulders, but instead it was a small cave in the side of what seemed to be a mountain. He gaped up at it before turning his attention back to this strange new forest, taking a deep breath of the fresh air that was provided. 

“What is this place..” Keith huffed to himself, leaning down to pluck a bright blue flower off a bush. 

He tensed as he heard a low rumble behind him. ‘Oh not again..’ he thought grimly, hearing the wingbeats of a large creature, the wind it created ruffling his hair. 

Keith slowly turned around only to come face to face with the largest reptile he had ever seen. It had large rough scales the color of the midnight sky. It’s eyes were a bright violet with slitted pupils. Large wings resides on its back where numerous spines stood on end. A cloaked figure stood on its back, looking down at him curiously. 

Keith opened his mouth to say something, but never got to as he promptly passed out.


	2. Marked

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m gonna try and add a new chapter at least once a day but idk yet heh.

“Are you sure he’s breathing?”

“He looks pretty dead to me, oh well, can’t say we tried.” 

“Would you two shut up? I’m trying to concentrate here! Shit, I think he’s waking up.” 

Keith groaned as he groggily opened his eyes a little, staring up at the canopy of an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar room. He would scold himself later for how long it took him to get his bearings, slowly sitting up and looking around as he tried to remember what happened. He blinked and was met with the light brown eyes of a young girl, who was staring at him curiously. 

“Agh!” Keith pushed them away, also realizing he had no shirt on, and covered himself with a blanket. 

“Aw look, you scared him.” One voice laughed from the other side of the room. 

Keith looked over towards it, getting a look at the three teens who seemed around his age. The girl, he thinks it’s a girl anyway, had short light brown hair, pale skin and large glasses. There was a boy standing behind her with darker skin and hair, also fairly larger, with an orange bandana tied around his head. The third was the boy who had laughed at him, a tall, caramel skinned, blue eyed, beauty. That’s how Keith would describe him anyway, despite his seemingly overconfident and annoying personality. 

“What? Captivated by my incredibly good looks, mullet?” The blue eyed boy smirked. 

Keith immediately decided he didn’t like him. “No! I just...where am I? And who are you people?” He quickly changed the subject, saving himself from further embarrassment. 

“Well, you’re in the kingdom of Altea. My names Pidge. I use they/them pronouns and I’m a scientist here, so I’m mainly down in the labs. The big guy behind me is Hunk, he’s a chef and probably the most lovable guy you could ever meet. And the annoying kid over there is Lance, he’s an archer and basically just full of himself.” Pidge shrugged. 

“Hey! I am not! I’m like the hero of the story, saving maidens, giving money to the poor, the cool ninja sharpshooter.” Lance exclaimed, crossing his arms with an over exaggerated pout. 

“Um...alright then..the names Keith. So..how did I get here?” Keith asked, still trying to process everything. At this point he knew he must be dreaming, none of this could be real, especially as he heard a loud roar outside and his eyes widened slightly. 

“See we don’t actually know. Shiro was the one who brought you here, he found you in the forest at the base of Titans Mountain.” Hunk explained, wringing his hands together nervously. 

They all acted like they hadn’t heard the roar, which confuse Keith even more. “Ok this has got to be a dream...” He closed his eyes and pinched his arm hard, the skin turning an angry red before he opened his eyes again, only to see he was still in the same place. “Ok not a dream..” He rubbed the area he had pinched, freezing as he felt something rough. He slowly looked down at his arm. There, on his left bicep, was a patch of dark red scales. “What the hell is this! What did you do to me!” He yelled, glaring angrily at the three. 

“Cool your jets man, we didn’t do anything!” Lance snapped, glaring back at him. 

“When you were brought in they were already there. Theres more too, some on your right leg and in the middle of your back. That’s what the Marked have, it allows a special connection between Human, or any other alien, and dragon, which is what the Dragon Academy was built for, to help young Marked strengthen their dragon bonds and help protect the kingdoms.” Pidge told him, crossing their arms with a frown. 

“Ok so...you’re telling me that I just randomly showed up in this world and was deemed one of the..the Marked and now I’m bonded to a dragon?! Are all of you Marked?” Keith felt like ripping out his hair and screaming or laughing, he was probably going insane. ‘Dragons aren’t real Keith, you are going crazy or these people are crazy.’

“Basically yeah, but you’re not bonded to a dragon yet, most Marked don’t have a dragon at first so the Academy breeds dragons and lets newbies have one of the offspring or you can go out and take one yourself, but no ones that stupid. Anyway, most kind are pretty picky and you can only choose them if they choose you.” Lance shrugged, like it was no big deal. He pulled up his sleeve to reveal sparkling, light blue scales. 

Hunk rolled up his pant leg to show the dull, but still beautiful, yellow scales that resided there. 

Pidge craned their neck to the side to show their glimmering green scales. “And yeah, we’re all Marked here in the Academy. Since you’re Marked than that means you can register to train here too, assuming you have nowhere to go that is.” They looked knowingly at him. 

“How did you...never mind. You’re right..I don’t have anywhere else to go.” Keith muttered, staring down at the bedspread angrily, fist clenching in the soft fabric.

“Great! We’ll take you to the Headmaster in the morning. For now, you need to rest. It looks like you got in a fight with a corrupt Razorleaf Dragon, nasty little things. Their teeth practically leak acid and it’s very bad for your skin. So just rest for now, Mullet.” Lance said sarcastically, less then careful when pushing him down by the shoulder to lay on the bed as Pidge grabbed some tube like thing. 

“Stop calling me that...” Keith growled, growing drowsy as Pidge presses the tube onto his skin, the liquid in it draining and entering his system. “S’ not a mullet..” He muttered, eyes closing as he drifted off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Comments and Kudos are greatly appreciated. If you see any errors please tell me so I can fix them immediately.


	3. The Academy

The next time Keith woke up, there was no sign of anyone in the room, other than some new clothes for him to put on. 

“So it wasn’t a dream after all...maybe I’m in a coma or something.” He muttered, rubbing his head. He knew there was no use denying it anymore, this was all real and he was stuck here. At least it seemed like a better place to be than on the streets in his own world. 

Keith slowly got out of the bed, the wooden flooring creaking softly underneath him as he stood. He picked up the clothes left for him, a thin, red, long sleeved shirt that fit snuggly on him, leaving little to the imagination. Some plain black pants that somehow fit him perfectly, weird. They had also left a leather vest, putting it over the shirt with strings crisscrossed over the chest. He put on his combat boots he had with him, going over to a mirror to see how he looked. 

“Huh, not bad..” Keith smirked slightly to himself, suddenly wishing he hadn’t left his fingerless gloves at home. Maybe he could get some from a market or whatever shops they had here. He sighed, his mind wandering. What if they wouldn’t let him stay here? It’s not like they’d have any use for him anyway, no one ever seemed to want anything to do with him in the first place. He would just have to return to his own world somehow and stay out of sight until he was officially eighteen. 

“Hey! You almost done in there, Mullet?” Someone yelled, knocking loudly on the door. Lance. 

“Oh, uh, yeah.” Keith called back, smoothing his hair down slightly to try and control the wild strands, before opening the door. He glanced down slightly, meeting the bright blue eyes of Lance, who was gaping up at him. 

Keith smirked, leaning against the doorway. He felt a smug satisfaction of learning he was taller than the other boy, who only came up to his chin, especially after how he’d acted towards him earlier. “Something wrong?” 

“N-No! Not at all! Just because your tall and...pretty well muscled...doesn’t mean you’re any better than me, Mullet! You’re still the newbie and a jerk.” Lance huffed, turning away and crossing his arms as he led the way out. “Pidge and Hunk are waiting for us in front of the Headmasters office, so hurry up.” 

Keith huffed a small laugh, closing the door behind him as he followed Lance. He squinted his eyes at the bright sunlight streaming through the large windows of the hallway, stopping for a moment to look out at the Academy grounds. There were people milling about, some on dragons and some just walking. There was a group training off in a field to the right, but he couldn’t see what they were doing. 

“Those are a group of Archers in training, usually I’d be down there helping them but I gotta deal with you so it’ll have to wait. I didn’t even get to take Aqua out on her morning fly!” Lance said, pouting slightly as he came up beside Keith. “You’ll get to see it all later so let’s go.” He shoved him slightly, getting him to move. 

“Geez your so grumpy, usually I’m the grumpy and aggressive one.” Keith huffed, glaring at the shorter boy. 

“Yeah? Well this has got my daily routine all off so I have reason to be grumpy.” Lance growled, sighing dramatically in relief when they finally arrived at the Headmasters office, Pidge and Hunk waiting for them. 

“What took you two so long?!” Pidge hissed, narrowing their eyes at them. 

“Mullet here kept getting distracted.” Lance huffed, earning a heated glare from Keith.

“Ugh whatever, let’s just get inside so you can be enrolled. Headmaster Alfor was already noted about your arrival.” Pidge gestured for them to follow, opening the large office doors. 

The room was pretty bare, a desk situated in the middle with papers and books piled up on it, A few bookshelves and file cabinets scattered here and there, and a glass door leading out to a small balcony. Sitting in a chair behind the desk was a much older man with long white hair and dark skin, eyes that still held their youthfulness looking up as they entered. Headmaster Alfor smiled, standing up to greet them. “You must be Keith. It was a big surprise when Shiro said he found a boy in the forest near Titans Mountain. I almost thought he had gone crazy, no one ever goes near that mountain anymore.” He mused, holding out a hand for Keith to shake. 

Keith smiled nervously, shaking hands with the older man. “I can’t say I wasn’t surprised when I ended up here. I’m still thinking it’s all a dream.” He huffed. 

Headmaster Alfor chuckled, a kind smile taking over his features. “Well you are welcomed to stay here as long as you’d like. Pidge and Hunk told me that you were Marked though? May I see?” 

Keith hesitated before nodding, holding out his arm and rolling the sleeve up the best he could, the shining red scales on his left bicep being revealed. 

“Extraordinary, I’ve never heard of an outsider being Marked. Especially one that isn’t even from this world. Well, seeing that you are Marked, you are eligible to enroll here at the Academy, to Bond with a dragon of your own and train alongside your friends here. If you’d like to that is.” Headmaster Alfor said, that kind smile never leaving his face. 

Keith frowned slightly, unsure of how to feel about all of this. First of all, he wouldn’t really call the other three his friends, he’s only known them for a few hours at most. Secondly, what if he stayed and they all got to know him, then they decide they don’t like him and kick him out. Were these people homophobic? Was that a thing here? He wouldn’t know unless he stayed...

“Alright, I’d like to enroll in this..uh...Academy.” Keith said, standing up straight and trying to look confident. 

“Splendid! Just sign your name on this paper and we’ll get you situated.” Headmaster Alfor, shuffles through the mound of papers on his desk before he seemed to find the right one, setting it down in front of Keith and handing him a pen. 

Keith hesitated before taking the pen and writing his signature on the paper. 

“Cmon Keith, lets get you an official Academy student room.” Hunk smiled as the group made their way out of the office and down a different hall. 

“Wait, hold up, why are we at my room?!” Lance asked, seeing the door they were going towards. 

“Because every room has room for two students and seeing as your roommate finished training last year, Keith will be staying with you.” Pidge said, smirking wickedly. 

“Nuh uh! I did not agree to this, Headmaster Alfor never said anything of me having to share a room with the Mullet.” Lance protested.

“Actually he did, while you two were taking your sweet time we had already talked with him, assuming Keith would agree to join the Academy, and Alfor said he would bunk with you.” Hunk said with a small shrug, rolling his eyes as Lance groaned loudly. 

“Oh you’ll be fine you big baby. Now, let’s go get you your Dragon, Keith.” Pidge said. 

Keith gulped, his Adam’s apple bobbing with the movement. 

“Scared, Mullet?” Lance sneered. 

“First, it’s not a Mullet. Second, You wish.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'll most likely be updating every Monday and Friday starting next week.


	4. A dragon with anger issues

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I won't be able to get the next chapter out this Friday or next Monday sadly. there's some...complications at home and I don't have access to internet.

Keith found himself standing in the middle of a massive cave, large dens carved into the stone where the dragons stayed. There were dragons of all shapes, sizes and colors, either resting or play fighting or getting ready to go out with their riders. It was amazing. He was snapped out of his thoughts by Pidges voice.  
“First we’ll show you our dragons so you can get a feel for being around them. Some of the newer Marked are afraid of their dragons, with good reason, and their bonds never grow so they get stuck as caretakers, which I doubt you’d like to do.” Pidge explained, leading the group into one of the dens that branched off into smaller ones. “Rover!” They called, smiling as a small dragon came tumbling out to greet them. It had shining green scales with stripes of light grey that cut through them and cobalt blue eyes, plus some small wings that were folded to its side. It almost seemed to move robotically, which explained the three metal legs and metal tail. “This is Rover, they’re a Forest Dragon and they’re not very big so I can’t fly on them. But they usually come down to the lab and help down there.” They reached down to run their fingers along the ridged scales, listening to the pleased purr Rover let out.  
Hunk disappeared into one of the dens and came back out with a large, roughly scaled dragon. It had dark brown scales and murky yellow eyes. It also had armored plates along its belly, back snout that were a dark tan. Large spikes stuck out from the armored scales, some hidden behind the large wings that resided on its back. At the end of its rocky tail was a spiked ball of sorts, the spikes scraping against the floor. “This is Digger, my Ground Dragon. He might seem all rough and tough but he’s really a big softie. Plus, he likes to eat almost as much as I do.” Hunk chuckled, hugging the dragon lovingly as Digger let out a low rumble.  
“Yeah their dragons are good and all but wait until you see my beautiful girl.” Lance huffed, putting his fingers to his lips and letting out a sharp whistle. A shrill screech responded, echoing throughout the cave as a large dragon landed beside Lance, it’s tail twirling around him. It had an elegant aura and grace to it, the shining light blue scales that adorned its body mixing with the darker blue swirls that spread out over its scales and wings. It had webbing between its clawed toes, its cheeks, ears and some webbing and small fins along its tail. “This is the beautiful Aqua. She’s an Eastern Sea Dragon, not to get confused with a Western Sea Dragon, and the most gorgeous dragon here. Yes she is!” Lance cooed, wrapping his arms around the dragons slim neck.  
“They all look...amazing. In books dragons are always described as viscous, fire breathing beasts..” Keith murmured, reaching out his hand to Aqua. He hesitated, looking to Lance for permission, before jolting back as Aqua pushed her slim snout into his hand, cool scales contrasting with his warm skin, almost feeling slimy. “They’re all so beautiful. I guess it wouldn't be too bad to have my own dragon...to stay.” He said with a sheepish smile, pretending to ignore the subtill fist pump into the air Lance did.  
“Well lets go see the hatchlings then, maybe one of them will like you.” Pidge mused, gesturing for them to follow again. The dragons followed along behind their Bonded, rumbling and growling quietly to each other.  
Keith began to follow them but stopped when they passed by the entrance, eyes widening. There was a large dragon being held down with chains and ropes, or, trying to be held down anyway. It was thrashing and snarling, trying to escape the chains holding it down. It’s dark scales seemed reddish brown in color, hardly seeming to reflect the light of the sun, almost like it was absorbing it. Black markings adorned its body, traveling under it gleaming orange eyes and up its massive wings. The spikes along its back were raised and twitching with agitation, lashing out at a nearby boy that was trying to tighten one of the chains. “Hey, what are they doing to that dragon?” He asked, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.  
“Ah, they’re trying to get him transferred to one of the holding dens.” Lance explained, coming up beside Keith. “There was a group of wild dragons that came through the other day and this guy got left behind because of an injured leg. So we’ve been taking care of him. He’s a mean one though, won’t let anyone get near him so I'm not sure what they’re planning on doing with him.” He shrugged.  
Keith frowned, staring at the struggling dragon. The dragon seemed to freeze, it’s dark eyes meeting his as the world around them stopped. Keith began to walk towards him, unable to stop himself. He could hear the distance voice of Lance calling his name, the confusion clear in his voice. The dragon raised its head to glare down at him. Everything began to happen at once. The dragon jolted up, the chains creaking and snapping as he freed himself. Now free, the dragon advanced towards Keith with a hiss. Next thing Keith knew he was high up in the air, voice hoarse from screaming, in the claws of the dragon. “Let me down!” He yelled, terrified. He glanced down at the deadly drop again. “Wait no, let me up!” He screeched, trying to grab onto the dragons legs. The dragon leaned its head down to look at him, grabbing onto the leather of his vest and lifting him up before setting him down onto the base of his neck. Keith was able to feel the strong muscles tensing underneath him as the wings worked behind him. Keith held on tight to the dragons scaly skin as best he could, opening his eyes slightly without realizing he had even closed them in the first place. He took a deep breath, looking out at the beautiful view ahead of them...  
And he flew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this chapter! As always comments and Kudos are greatly appreciated. Also a special thanks to my friend "Adam" (they probably don't want me putting their actual name lol) for putting up with my complaining when I get writers block.


	5. Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the major delay in getting this chapter out. I hate life lol.

Keith was mesmerized by the view, the rolling green hills moving into the large and dense forest on the edge of the town. A flock of birds flew a few feet ahead of them, until the dragon gave another beat of his wings and snapped his jaws at them, getting nothing but a mouthful of feathers as they squawked and scattered away. The dragon rumbled and spat the feathers out, a few flying back into Keith's face. “Hey! Watch where you’re spitting those out!” He grumbled, wiping the leftover feather and spit from his face. The dragon let out a low growl, like he was talking back. “Yeah yeah, uh, can you take me back down now...?” He asked, looking nervously down towards the Academy grounds they were currently flying over. The dragon let out another rumble before beginning to move lower. In a single twist he had gone into a nose dive, Keith shrieking as he held on for dear life. As the ground grew closer and closer, the dragon spread his wings in a smooth movement, slowing their decent until he landed on all fours with a thud. Everyone stayed back, eyeing the dragon fearfully as if they were expecting him to lash out at them at any moment. Keith glanced over at Lance, Pidge, and Hunk, shrugging one shoulder at them as he slid off the dragon and back onto solid ground. 

Immediately they surrounded him, asking all sorts of questions like “How did you get it to listen to you so fast?” “Oh my quiznak, Keith you could have died! Do you need comfort food? Or just food?” “How high up do you think you were? What about what speed it was flying?”. Keith looked between the three, unease curling deep inside his gut. “I..uh..I don’t know? Just when we got higher, he put me at the base of his neck, and it was pretty much self-explanatory from there. Also, comfort food?” He turned to Hunk with a raised eyebrow. 

“Uh yeah, when I get nervous, I stress eat.” Hunk smiled sheepishly. 

“This still doesn’t explain what happened. We thought that dragon was gonna fly off with you!” Lance mused, crossing his arms. 

Pidge came up beside Keith and lifted his sleeve up, looking at the scales on his bicep. They looked slightly different now, brighter and shinier than before. “Well, I guess you’ve got yourself a dragon now. Though It will probably be different than starting off with a baby dragon like we usually do.” 

Keith looked a bit worried at that, a scowl forming on his face. 

“Aw don’t worry Mullet, you should be fine. You’ve done great so far.” Lance clapped a hand on his shoulder, though slight jealously could be detected in his tone. 

Keith ignored the nickname as he heard his stomach rumble. “Any chance we can get something to eat now? I didn’t have breakfast.” He chuckled. 

“Of course! There's a new recipe I've been wanting to try out and you three are gonna be my taste testers.” Hunk said joyfully, starting off back towards the Academy entrance. 

Keith began to follow but paused, looking back at the dragon, his dragon, who was staring right back at him. “What about the dragon? Won’t he fly off if I leave him out here?” He asked. 

“Nah, Bonded dragons won’t leave the area their bonded is currently in, so he should be fine. Hopefully.” Pidge shrugged, following after Hunk and Lance. 

Keith glanced back at the dragon once more before following his new friends. 

Awhile later they were sat at one of the tables in a cafeteria, happily munching on the food Hunk made as said boy rambled on and on about what was in the food and other recipes he had come up with. Lance looked across the table at Keith, getting the boys attention. “So, what are you gonna name your dragon? Blaze? Blitz? Dusty? Demon? Angry Boi?” 

“Those are all lame names Lance, we don’t know the exact species of dragon it is, so it needs a cool name.” Pidge huffed before stuffing more food in their face. 

“Actually, I've already decided on a name for him, Zaki. I know it might seem like a strange name, but I think it suits him.” Keith shrugged, twirling his spoon around in the soup like substance Hunk gave him. 

“Zaki? Weird name for a weird dragon with a weird bonded.” Lance laughed, smirking at Keith. 

“Was that supposed to be an insult? Man, I'm so hurt.” Keith rolled his eyes, smirking right back at him. He praised himself mentally when he saw the faint red tint of Lances cheeks, flushed with embarrassment. 

“Oh yeah! Well...uh...you have a mullet! What are you, some 80’s biker guy?” Lance sneered, putting on a look of confidence. 

“You talk an awful lot about his mullet Lance, you’d think you actually liked it.” Pidge mused, raising an eyebrow at their friend. 

“W-what! As if I could like that stupid mullet!” Lance sputtered, sending a look of betrayal at Pidge before turning back to his food with a huff, angrily stuffing a spoonful into his mouth. 

Keith chuckled quietly as he watched Lance. He’s cute when he’s flustered...wait no, no gay thoughts Keith. This is the reason you got kicked out in the first place. He frowned down at his food,   
disappointment and dread overtaking his appetite. 

“You ok, Keith? You’re staring at your food very passive aggressively.” Hunk said, a look of concern crossing the boys features. 

“Oh, uh, yeah, I’m fine. I was just thinking.” Keith shrugged, “So what kinds of stuff do you do with your dragons?” He asked, changing the subject. 

Lance seemed to perk up at that, turning to Keith with a wide smile. “Well, me and Aqua usually have a daily routine. Wake up, get food, go for a swim, maybe get some archery practice, go for a fly, all the good dragon stuff. Everyone's always complimenting me on how amazing Aqua is, she’s so elegant and beautiful.” He sighed. 

“Yeah, that merchant was totally complementing you when you and Aqua crashed into his fruit cart and ruining all the fruits.” Hunk snorted. 

“Why are you all so mean to me.” Lance pouted dramatically, hanging his head. 

“Don’t worry Lance, when I can fly Zaki better than people will be complimenting me instead and you won't have to worry about damaging fruit carts.” Keith teased. 

“Pfft, as If you could be a better flyer than me. The only ones better than me are probably Shiro and Adam, but I’d bet all my money that their dragons like feed off each other's energy or something and transfer it to their riders.” Lance huffed. 

“That's what you always say but everyone knows that they're better flyers just by practice, they’ve been here way longer than us.” Pidge muttered, looking to Keith. “Shiro and Adam are basically the power couple of the Academy and amazing flyers. Plus, they both have rarer dragons than most everyone else, a Moon dragon and Sun Dragon, and really strong bonds with them.” 

Keith simply nodded as he processed the information, mainly the couple part. So this place must be accepting of same sex relationships, best news I've heard all day. He smiled slightly to himself before quickly hiding it behind his normal blank face. 

A moment later, more people started coming into the cafeteria, the smell of food becoming stronger as everyone sat down to eat lunch. A group came to sit with them at their table, Keith becoming uncomfortable around the strangers and keeping his eyes trained on the table. None of them tried to speak with him, probably couldn’t care enough to even realize he was there. He could feel eyes watching him, glancing up to see the deep blue eyes of Lance, watching him closely. 

“I’m gonna take Keith to our room so he can get settled in.” Lance announced, standing and motioning for said boy to follow. 

Keith quickly got up and hurried after him, waiting until they were out of earshot before speaking. “Um...thanks for that, I don’t do well in crowds...” He muttered, staring at the ground as they walked.   
Lance nudged him playfully, a warm smile on his face as he looked up at the other boy. “I could tell, I could see it in your eyes, you were terrified.” He teased. 

“Yeah well, if you were as hopeless with social interactions as I am then you would get where I'm coming from.” Keith huffed, trying and failing to hide the small smile creeping onto his face. They made their way into the shared dorm room, Lance flopping down onto his bed with an exasperated sigh before turning over to look at Keith. 

“Y’know, you remind me a lot of my sister Rachel. She used to be all broody and tough looking too but she’s really just a big softy. My mama had a fit when she came home with a tattoo on her arm, you could see the instant regret on her face.” Lance laughed, smiling brightly. “I miss them, but I'm glad I'm here. I’m the only one in the family that has the Mark, so my siblings were all pretty jealous when I got a dragon. They all love Aqua though, especially my niece and nephew, I had to physically drag them away from her when I first brought her to my home so they wouldn’t try and climb on and fly her. I did promise them a ride when they got older though. I just realized I'm rambling haha! Sorry, I tend to ramble a lot when I'm nervous and I'm not sure of what to say like I'm doing right now so I'm just gonna shut up. Anyway, tell me about yourself keef. You’ve been here two days now, well you were asleep all the first, but I know next to nothing about you. ” Lance said, propping his head up with his hand as he watched the other boy expectantly. 

“Well there’s not much to tell to be honest. I’ve been told that I'm really hot-headed and aggressive...i’m more of a lone wolf, y’know? I prefer to be on my own and everyone else was perfectly fine with that.” Keith shrugged, tugging nervously on the end of his shirt, unsure of what to say. 

“What about your family?” 

“I’ve been an orphan since I was ten. My mother disappeared one day when I was still really young and my father died in a house fire...i’ve been in the foster care system since then and I've been through several different families because none of them could deal with my ‘discipline issues’ and I got into fights with the other kids.” Keith balled his hands into fists, trying to contain the rage bubbling up inside him. He almost leapt off the bed when he felt a touch on his arm, whipping his head to the side to see Lance, who had come to sit beside him and had a sorrowful look in his beautiful blue eyes.   
“Oh Keith...I’m so sorry. I-I shouldn’t have asked in the first place, I promise I won’t tell Pidge and Hunk about it either. It must have been horribly lonely in those foster homes...” Lance murmured, suddenly wrapping his arms around Keith and tucking his face into his shoulder. “You have us now though, we’ll be your family.” 

Keith felt tears form in his eyes at Lances words, stiffening when the smaller boy wrapped his arms around him, feeling the warmth radiating off his sun-tanned skin. He tentatively wrapped his arms around Lance, resting his cheek on top of his head, the soft hair there tickling his nose and cheek. “Thank you, Lance...”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Comments and Kudos are greatly appreciated. another thanks to my friend AdAm for helping me with this and dealing with my complaining.


	6. Sleepy Thoughts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this is so short, it's all the time I could find to write ;-; i promise the next will be much longer.

Keith stared up at the ceiling, listening to the soft snoring of Lance from where he was asleep on the other bed. No matter what he just couldn’t seem to fall asleep. Though with everything happening so quickly, he couldn’t really be blamed. He rolled over onto his side, looking over at Lances sleeping form.

They had talked for a while longer, after Keith told him about his past years of life, then Lance had fallen asleep beside him. Keith had gently moved him over to his own bed, tucking the younger boy in.

Now he just lay there thinking over what all had happened in the past hours. In just two days he had been kicked out of his home, gone to another world, met weird people, joined some random academy and bonded himself to a dragon. Probably the most interesting time he’d had in his entire life. The real question was, did he want to stay here? These people seemed nice enough and he could see him becoming friends with them, however unlikely it might seem. But over time they would probably grow tired of him and his stubborn attitude and he'd get kicked out all over again.

“I guess I'll just have to give them reason to let me stay.” He muttered to himself, turning over to his other side and finally falling asleep. 

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Lance waited until Keith's breathing evened out before sitting up and looking over at the other boy. He could sense the inner turmoil going on in the older boys' mind.

_Good job Lance, he’s been here for two days and you’ve already become infatuated with him...pull yourself together. He’s probably straight anyway, and mean. Yeah, he’s mean and has a stupid mullet...that he can somehow pull off...no! Stop thinking like that._ Lance groaned in frustration at his thoughts, trying to find some sanity in all this.

From the minute Shiro had brought in the unconscious boy he knew he wanted him, in any way he could have. It was just something about him that drew him in. Their

earlier conversation did nothing to help his growing crush, his heart racing as he hugged Keith, feeling his sturdy body against his own. Lance sighed at the thought, looking back over at Keith.

_He even scowls when he’s asleep_. He smiled softly, wanting to smooth out the furrowed brows on Keith's face and have him relax. Don’t get ahead of yourself Lance. He frowned to himself before lying back down and drifting off into the black void of sleep.

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this very small chapter. As some of you may have noticed, I'm starting another fanfic called Mad Man with a Lion, a doctor who and Voltron type fanfic. I'll be switching off between the two every week, so next week I'll post chapter 2 of MMWAL and the week after that will be Dragon Bond and so on so forth.


	7. He's Not Who He Seems

_“The boy is not Altean, my Lord. I sense a different kind of quintessence in him. Galra blood runs through his veins, I think it would be best if we retrieved him before the Alteans have a chance to corrupt his mind.” A harsh, raspy voice echoed through the darkness. Two figures slowly came into view, standing around a crystal ball that gave off a bright purple glow. “Very well, have him brought to me. If he is Galra like you say he is, then he will be very valuable.” Another voice responded, deep and gravely in tone. “Yes, Lord Zarkon._ ” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Keith woke with a start, panting heavily as the dream faded from his mind. He had a slight headache, nothing more than a dull ache though. He looked over to see if Lance was awake, but the others bed was empty, the covers drawn to the side and a dip in the pillow from where his head had been. He heard water running and soft humming through the wall, Lance must be taking a shower then. Keith sighed and rubbed his temples, wondering what that dream was about. He had never had one so...vivid. It was like it had been happening right in front of him. He froze when the bathroom door opened, Lance walking out with nothing but a towel to cover himself.

Lance was still humming cheerfully to himself, until he noticed Keith staring at him. His mind helpfully offered him an image of Keith pinning him against the wall and practically devouring him right then and there. He shook the image away and let out a small squeak, grabbing his clothes and rushing back into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. “Why didn’t you say anything you perv!” He shouted.

Keith just stared at where Lance had been standing, trying to will away his sudden arousal. His mind supplied him with nothing but Lance. Lances long, caramel colored legs. Lances smooth and lean chest that had water droplets running down it...and now he was hard. Great. _Think of something else, Keith, think about puppies. Puppies are cute and cuddly...like Lance. Damnit!_ He let himself fall, his head hitting the pillow. The dorm door clicked as it was opened and shut, signaling that Lance had left.

Keith groaned as he stood up, uncomfortably shifting his legs. _I’m not dealing with this today_. He thought to himself. He took a quick shower, the cold water helping calm him down, then put on his clothes and headed to the dining hall to meet up with the others.

Lance, Hunk, and Pidge seemed to be in deep conversation about something, drawn close together as they whispered. They immediately broke apart as Keith came over, Lance pointedly not looking his way as a blush covered his freckled face.

“So, Keith, Lance tells us that you were talking in your sleep last night.” Pidge said with a grave look. “You kept saying...Zarkon.”

Keith frowned, internally thanking Lance he hadn’t told them about what happened. “Who’s Zarkon? I’ve never heard of him.”

The other three exchanged looks, like they didn’t want to say but decided to anyway, a hint of fear in their eyes. “Zarkon is the ruler of the Galra Empire in the deadlands. They are the tyrants of this world and will destroy anything in their path to complete and total power and control.” Hunk explained, his voice wavering slightly.

“But why would I be having dreams of him? It seemed too real...” Keith murmured. Pidge was about to respond when they were interrupted by a new voice.

“What are you three still doing in here? You should be out training and taking care of your dragons.” A snarky voice spoke. The group turned to look, though the other three already knew who it was. A young woman stood in the doorway, white hair falling over her shoulders and contrasting with her dark skin. She had the same markings below her eyes that the others did, a faint pink in color. Her bright blue eyes were narrowed, hands on her hips, a pompous aura about her.

“Who’s she?” Keith whispered, freezing when her icy gaze snapped to him.

“I think the real question here is who are you.” The woman hissed.

Keith glared back at her opening his mouth to say something back until Lance stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. “Allura, this is Keith, he’s new here at the Academy. Keith, this is Princess Allura. Her father, Alfor, is not only the headmaster of the Academy but he’s also the king of these lands, Altea. Also, she’s my cousin.” Lance explained, standing as Allura came to their table.

“Enough chit chat, your dragons need caring for and who knows when the galra will attack again?” Allura said, giving Keith a strange look before she turned on her heel and left.

“She seemed like a bitch.” Keith huffed, glaring as she left.

“Tell me about it. She thinks she’s all that because she’s a princess. Princess my ass!” Pidge muttered.

“She made me clean Juniberrys feathers the other day because she ‘Just got her nails done.’ and she complains about us not taking care of our own dragons!” Hunk added.

“Alright, yes” she’s a bitch, but she’s still family guys.” Lance sighed, averting his gaze.

“I feel so bad for you.” Keith mused, offering the shorter boy a small smirk, which caused him to smile in turn.

“Well, we should probably go get the dragons before Allura comes back and starts throwing another fit.” Lance said, following as Pidge and Hunk took the lead.

Keith wanted to talk to Lance about what happened this morning, wanted to know if there was a mutual attraction, but kept quiet as he saw Pidge kept looking back at the two.

They arrived at the Dragon Cave, many people already up and around, feeding and cleaning their dragons or harnessing them up for the day's work. As the group approached the den their dragons were in, Lance stopped and stared wide eyed in the den. Keith looked over to see what had caused him to stop, trying and failing to hold a smirk at the sight.

Zaki and Aqua were laying there, curled up around each other, Aquas head resting on Zakis side as it rose and fell with each breath the large dragon took. Pidge and Hunk snickered behind them, clearly finding amusement in the other two boys shared embarrassment. Keith seemed confused for a moment, frowning and raising as eyebrow at them.

“They’re just laying together, I don’t see what the big deal is?” He said, glaring at Pidge as they burst out laughing. He glanced at Lance, the others face flushed a cute deep red as he looked anywhere but at Keith. Pidge and Hunk finally calmed down enough to speak, wiping away tears.

“There’s more to being bonded than just having a companion, you also bond part of your souls, share thoughts and emotions. Dragons usually show what emotions their Bonded are feeling, like anger, grief...affection.” Pidge explained with a smug look. It was Keith's turn to blush now, looking nervously at the dragons.

“Well, you two have fun, me and Hunk have other stuff to do since we fed our dragons earlier this morning.” They waved them off before pulling Hunk away from the two.

“So...” Lance started, glancing at Keith.

“Don’t...just don’t.” Keith muttered, surprising even himself with his harsh tone. He went over to the dragons, Zaki raising his head as he sensed his presence. The dragon must have felt the annoyance radiating off him because he almost seemed to roll his eyes, moving his gaze elsewhere, which happened to be the slumbering Aqua. Zaki let out a soft rumbling soft, watching as the water dragon slowly woke up and cooed back to him. Zaki gave Keith a pointed look, like he was saying _stop being a pussy and go get that boy_ before turning his attention back to Aqua. Keith sighed, ignoring the dragon in favor of looking over at Lance, who was struggling to pull two large baskets of fish over.

Lance gave up after a moment with a frustrated look, looking to Keith as the other watched him, amusement shining in his stormy grey eyes. “Mind helping me out a little, hot shot?” He growled, ocean blue eyes narrowed.

“What’s got you in a bad mood all of a sudden? You were fine just a moment ago, if you call looking like a tomato fine anyway.” Keith growled back, his voice unknowingly becoming rougher and deeper.

“You’re the one that’s been acting weird! Ever since this morning you hardly look my way. Was seeing me half naked too gay for you or something for a straight guy like you?” Lance raised his voice with each word, jabbing a finger as Keith and poking him in the chest. Somewhere behind them, Aqua and Zaki growled softly, whether it was at each other or they were trying to get their Bonded to calm down, they didn’t know.

“Straight? Lance, I'm one of the gayest people I know. It’s why I got kicked out and ended up here in the first place!” Keith yelled, taking a step forward while Lance took a step back. His eyes flashed a deep gold, a few splotches of purple fur sprouting out on his usually pale skin. His nails elongated into sharp claws and his body grew slightly larger, taller, so he was practically towering over Lance. Keith didn’t seem to seem to see the fear in Lances eyes, the ocean blue orbs staring widely at him as he was backed against the wall.

“K-Keith? What’s going on? You...You’re galra!” Lance yelped, shrinking back as the galran leaned in closer, deep growls rumbling from deep in his throat. The galran grabbed Lance by the throat, lifting him a few inches off the ground and cutting off his air. Lances vision faded and blurred as he struggled to breath, weakening. _This is it, I'm going to be killed by a crush who turned out to be a galra._ He thought grimly, waiting for death to take him. Instead, the claws around his throat disappeared and he fell to the ground, taking great deep breaths of air. When he looked up, he saw Zaki and Aqua standing in front of him, a snarling Keith pinned down by Zakis foot.

After a moment, Keith's galra features went away and he lay there panting heavily. Lance quickly stood and, without thinking, climbed onto Aquas back and the pair left the cave as fast as they could.

“Lance, wait!” Keith called, Zaki letting him stand as he watched the other leave. He turned to Zaki, the dragon giving him a disapproving look. “How was I supposed to know that would happen! It’s only happened like one other time in my life.” He protested, the reddish-brown dragon only growling at him and turning away. “Great, now even my dragon hates me.” He huffed, crossing his arms.

“You there, marked boy.” A deep voice said, two cloaked figures emerging from the shadows of the den. “We saw what happened, you have the blood of a galra in you.” They said, drawing closer to him.

Keith frowned, moving closer to Zaki and hoping the dragon wasn’t mad enough to leave him for dead. “I don’t know who you are or what you’re talking about but you better back the fuck up before i start swinging.” Keith snarled, smiling when he heard Zaki hiss at them from beside him.

“Let’s just say...we’re some distant relatives.” The voice cackled as Keith’s vision faded and he collasped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Comments and Kudos are always appreciated.  
> I was hoping for this one to be a bit longer but I had written it out on paper beforehand so yeah :P

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Kudos are greatly appreciated! If you see any errors in this please tell me and I’ll fix it right away lol. I’ll try to update as much as I can but it will probably be at least once a week until I set up an actual schedule.


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